SPARTANBURG, S.C. (CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) – Pads are on for the second week of training camp; this season, you may have noticed an extra layer of protection.
“Yeah, I haven’t had no player say one thing to me about the guardian caps,” said Matt Rhule.
The new protective headgear is supposed to brace the severity of impact by at least 10% if one player is wearing it and at least 20% if two players are wearing them when making contact.
“You know me; I gotta deal with safer protests,” said Ickey Ekwanu. “I don’t mind the guardian, but I’m a safe man but definitely been good, you know, I’m glad that the NFL is taking steps towards player safety and everything.”
All linemen, tight ends, and linebackers are required to wear it through the preseason, but some choose to wear it… kind of.
“We didn’t have to wear it DB-wise, but the lady in charge, which is my wife, said I have to, so I have it on,” said Xavier Woods.
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The use of the guardian caps in the preseason was voted on by four NFL head coaches on the NFL competition committee and is just the latest innovative equipment to help better protect payers.
“Anything we can do to lower the impact on a player’s brain is important to do so again, we’ve had no pushback, and I think it’s been, hopefully, it will be really beneficial for us,” Rhule said.
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